First Up Nick: I wanted to give a big shout out to everyone who took part in our Startups to Watch event last night.
We had a great crowd and the panel generated some engaging conversation about launching a startup here in Colorado. More on that in The Big One.
Let's go...
The Big One A breakdown on the day's biggest Inno story. Startups to Watch On Wednesday night we brought together some of the state's brightest startups for our first State of Innovation: 2019 Startups to Watch event.
The night was highlighted by a panel discussion that included Caleb Scalf, Founder and CEO of Hygge Power, Eric Schraufnagel, Co-founder and CTO of ClinOne, Mike Linton, Co-founder and CTO of Parsyl and Aidan Chopra, Co-founder of BitsBox.
In addition to the panel members, other members on our Startups to Watch list: Shotzr, Sopris Health, Nikola Power and The Hopper Boulder had display tables at the event.
During the panel discussion, the founders discussed why 2018 was a big year for them, challenges they faced along the way and plans for 2019 and beyond. Our four takeaways are: - "Shark Tank" is stressful. When asked about challenges BitsBox faced and how they overcame them, Chopra gave the audience two options. One focused on struggles with Facebook advertising…and the other was the company's experience on "Shark Tank." Unsurprisingly, the audience chose "Shark Tank" and Chopra spoke to the intimidating nature the show presents. Though receiving an initial offer from Chris Sacca, BitsBox left without a deal, and Chopra said it was the correct decision for the direction of the company.
- Colorado is a good starting point, but VC dollars and expansion may have to come from out of state. Panel members were all happy with their decision to launch their startups in a growing ecosystem here in Colorado, but were realistic when it came to growth. Scalf talked about looking outside the state for VC dollars and expansion opportunities at Hygge Power grows. The panel members acknowledged that there is local VC money, but have taken outside investment to sustain their growing businesses.
[Check out our recap here for our other two takeaways.]
Making Moves Inside the people, companies and organizations making moves today. HomeSphere Honored Denver-based HomeSphere, a construction technology company, just closed its books on its seventh consecutive year of double-digit growth and received top honors for its new product HomeSphere-IQ.
HomeSphere-IQ is a platform that collects, analyzes and shares information on homebuilders, their local markets and the products used in the homes they build. The platform was awarded Constructech Top Product of 2019.
Last year, more than 700 local builders joined the HomeSphere community, growing the total customer base to over 2.5K builders. Going to Space Boulder's Ball Aerospace was selected by NASA to build the spacecraft for the upcoming SPHEREx mission.
SPHEREx will study the nature of physics that drove cosmic inflation in the early universe, determine the properties of interstellar ices and probe the cosmic history of galaxy formation. New CRO at Flowhub Flowhub, a Denver-based cannabis compliance technology provider, announced the hiring of Dave Smith as the company's new CRO.
Smith will support the company's mission to help dispensaries operate compliantly and oversee the go-to-market strategy and execution of Flowhub's sales, marketing and customer success teams.
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